One World, One Chance: A Song

I don’t know the provenance of this song. The two bits of sheet music I have found have the attribution, “Devised by Raised Voices of Climate Change Demonstration”, London December 3rd 2005. Tune: “Mayenziwe ‘Ntando Yakho”. Full SATB Version (Scroll down or click here for a simplified version) Sheet Music: PDF All Parts Soprano or… Continue reading One World, One Chance: A Song

Join Your Union: A Song

A song by John Warner ©John Warner 2006 Tune Hymn “Bread of Heaven” “Guide me oh thou great Jehovah/Redeemer” Welsh tune: Cwm Rhondda. Composed by John Hughes (1873-1932). Scroll down for lyrics, music and practice tracks. See also the simplified arrangement of this song! See John Warner’s website,  http://www.folkjohnwarner.com/, where you can find  John’s full… Continue reading Join Your Union: A Song

We Shall Not Give Up The Fight

A song from South Africa, in this incarnation,  inviting a unified and humanitarian response to the refugee crisis. Original Sheet Music Practice Tracks On PC Right Click Title to Download On Android Devices, Press and Hold to Download All Parts Soprano/Melody Alto Tenor Bass In Performance  

It’s Getting Really Hard to Sing Advance Australia Fair

A newer, simpler arrangement of this song can be found here: Here is Keith Binns’ 2014 rewrite of the lyrics to Advance Australia Fair; a commentary on the xenophobia inherent in our current policy on asylum seekers arriving by boat.  In the arrangement presented here, for a small group of singers, I have largely dispensed… Continue reading It’s Getting Really Hard to Sing Advance Australia Fair

In My Shoes: A Song

Image by By Russell Watkins/Department for International Development, CC BY 2.0. A song about the plight of refugees, asylum seekers, wanting to find sanctuary in Australia, by Marianne Tozer and Lyndon Piddington, with further arrangement by Doug McPherson.  The song is offered in two keys, Em and Fm. Fm is probably the best key for singing… Continue reading In My Shoes: A Song

Tolpuddle Man: A Song Arrangement

Here is an arrangement of a song by Graham Moore, a commemoration of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. Scroll down for sheet music and practice tracks. The Tolpuddle Martyrs were a group of 19th century Dorset agricultural labourers who were arrested for and convicted of swearing a secret oath as members of the Friendly Society of Agricultural… Continue reading Tolpuddle Man: A Song Arrangement

Singing Exercises: Breathing

Here is the first of a series of singing exercises. To begin with, we need to breathe correctly. Below is a video that describes the diaphragmatic breathing that singers need to utilise. An additional tip when practising the exercises described in the video is to put your thumbs just below where your ribs meet in… Continue reading Singing Exercises: Breathing

Share Our Country: Jacobs Ladder

Gerri Wood’s lyrics to an old hymn tune, pleading for compassion and understanding towards asylum seekers and refugees. Download Sheet Music and Lyrics The cropped files give a bigger printout, but you might need to find a printer setting that say “Fit” or “Fit to printer margins”.  If that doesn’t work, print the regular file!… Continue reading Share Our Country: Jacobs Ladder

Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream

Image by Jorgen Carlberg Ed McCurdy‘s simple, evocative and widely covered anti-war song, “Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream”, has been recorded in seventy-six languages (including covers by The Weavers in 1960, the Chad Mitchell Trio in 1962, Simon & Garfunkel in 1964,Cornelis Vreeswijk in 1964 (in Swedish), Hannes Wader in 1979 (in German), Johnny… Continue reading Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream

Bella Ciao

An arrangement, by Doug McPherson, of the song “Bella Ciao“, an Italian partisan song which originated during the Italian civil war,  in which the Italian Resistance and the Italian Co-Belligerent Army fought together and defeated the forces of the Fascist Italian Social Republic. It is used worldwide as a hymn of freedom and resistance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bella_ciao Scroll Down for… Continue reading Bella Ciao